3 ms·
A lot of webcams have a hardware LED (ie when the camera the powered the LED goes on because on the current path). Some have it software controlled (either fir
by zobzu 12y ago
A lot of webcams have a hardware LED (ie when the camera the powered the LED goes on because on the current path).
Some have it software controlled (either firmware or driver).
The first ones are pretty safe since you know when they're in use and the notification is mostly unbypassable.
The other thing is that one rarely get interesting data through the webcam thus access to the webcam is generally no something people are looking for when running large scale attacks (for targetted attacks this is different).
Also... a piece of tape is nicer, lighter, more convenient and infinitely cheaper than a 3d printed shape :/
- bellerocky 12y agoThe LED doesn't help with snapshots though. The light would come one and go off pretty quickly and you'd have to be looking at it to notice.
- dredmorbius 12y agoBlinking lights tend to attract attention faster than static ones. It's a bit of a wash.
- Houshalter 12y agoIt should be on a timer so it stays on for n seconds after being turned off.
- mherdeg 12y agoI wonder whether the FBI bypasses hardware interlocks. Presumably no. The Washington Post reported in December 2013 that : ""The FBI has been able to covertly activate a computer’s camera — without triggering the light that lets users know it is recording — for several years, and has used that technique mainly in terrorism cases or the most serious criminal investigations, said Marcus Thomas, former assistant director of the FBI’s Operational Technology Division in Quantico, now on the advisory board of Subsentio, a firm that helps telecommunications carriers comply with federal wiretap statutes. "" Good times. http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/2013/12/06/352ba174-5397-11e3-9e2c-e1d01116fd98_story.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/2013/12/06...
- zobzu 12y agoit works for some cameras - not all.
- moepstar 12y ago>>>The first ones are pretty safe since you know when they're in use and the notification is mostly unbypassable. Well, no - i was pretty impressed when i read the writeup of a few researchers who where able to circumvent even the LEDs that are dongled into a current path. https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/bitstream/handle/1774.2/36569/camera.pdf?sequence=1 https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/bitstream/handle/1774.2...
- zobzu 12y agoIts a bug in the isight firmware. theyre not magically disabling hardware :) its neat but it only works on a very specific camera module.
- tomjen3 12y agoI wouldn't be surprised if somebody wrote malware to record peoples laptop cameras, detect large amounts of skin, record their facebook details and then threaten to post the information unless they pay up. We already have ransom-where, why not blackmail-ware?
- zobzu 12y agoThat would be interesting if that ever happens ;) It certainly could, eventually, although you can use this only once...